


Soccer Dad AU

by orphan_account



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-03-02 13:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2814170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short ficlets with soccer dad Bruce. AU with no Batman. Rating may change but i'll tag things as i go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The other day driving my friend and I saw a van that said 'bat van' on the back so I wondered what soccer dad Bruce would be like. Anyways I tried to pick sports that suited each of the batboys personalities to some degree of success (sorry Tim I couldn't think of anything better but i'll make it work).

 

“Father we are going to be late.” Damian was not happy. Squished in between Dick and Jason in the back seat of fathers Mercedes was unpleasant at best. Especially with all sorts of sports equipment shoved under their feet due to a lack of trunk space.

“It’s not like you’re the only with an important places to be, my state qualifiers are next month, Jason’s got the playoffs and Dick has a class to teach. There’s nothing anyone can do about traffic, if you’re late then you’re late.”

“We know.” Jason grumbled, kicking the back of Tim’s seat. Tim was seated up front so he and Damian wouldn’t be near each other because if the car ride across town could be any worse that would be the way to make it happen. Jason would rather be uncomfortable in the back seat than have to listen to Tim and Damian bicker the whole drive.

“Jason, feet off of the upholstery, what would Alfred say if you left shoe marks on the leather, you know better than that. And Damian, we won’t be late, I’m dropping you off first at the studio because it’s the farthest away. Then we’ll go to the aquatic center, then the rink and last the gym.”

“Aww man, I’m last. I wanted to get there early and try out the new high wire, c’mon Bruce it’s the next exit you could just drop me off I’ll do extra chores or whatever.”

Bruce sighed, being fencing, swimming, hockey and gymnastics dad was a full time job in itself. Not that he didn’t enjoy it, he loved seeing his kids find things that made them happy, that they were good at. However logistically it was a nightmare trying to get four boys to different places at nearly the same time almost every day of the week. Competition season was not friendly to schedules. He pulled up in front of stop one.

“See Damian, we aren’t late. Is your stuff in the trunk?”

“No it’s in buried under Todd’s big feet. Todd get out of my way, I’d like to get out of this car.” Jason grunted as Damian shoved him in the shoulder hard and inadvertently kneed him in the ribs climbing over him out of the car. In retaliation Jason grabbed Damian’s fencing bag and threw it at him making Damian stumble a bit.

“Boys! Cut it out, Damian I’ll be back at eight o’clock, behave yourself and have fun.”

“It would be more fun if you let me stab Todd.” Damian slammed the door hard in Jason’s face and stalked into the fencing studio.

“Did you hear that, he threatened to stab me! The brat is a menace to society, why we let him loose in public baffles me.”

Dick snickered. “Um Jason, you’re hoping to make a career by running into people with excessive force on ice skates, if we’re talking about menaces to society I hope you put yourself on the list too. At least fencing has grace and finesse to it you more often than not run into walls at high speeds.” Tim snorted.

“Just because all of you play pathetic, fancy sports doesn’t mean hockey requires any less finesse,” Jason turned to glower out the window, “when Tim gets out I call shotgun.”

Bruce pulled up to the aquatic center, Tim jumped out with his duffel bag and Jason also got out to move to the front seat. “Tim, I’ll be back at 8:30.”

“Got it, later.”

Thankfully Gotham Ice Arena was only a few blocks from the aquatic center so Dick and Jason didn’t have time to start arguing again. “You did you get tickets to Saturdays game right?” Jason asked.

“I thought there wasn’t a game until next Friday night?”

“Um no, I told you two days ago we’re playing Metropolis Saturday afternoon, you and Oliver even made a bet on the game.

“Shoot, I forgot. Is the ticket window open at this time of night?”

“Uh ya it should be.”

“Alright then. Dick do you want to wait in the car or go with me to the ticket office?”

“Sure I’ll go with. But you know Tim’s swim qualifiers are also on Saturday right?”

“Really? Hmm, we can make both it’ll be busy but there’s time for both if Alfred takes Jason to the game we can all go to Tim’s qualifier and then from there to the hockey match.”

“If you think we can, sure.”

“Jason, do you need help carrying anything?”

“Nah, I got it, see you guys at 9, right?”

“Yup. Alright let’s go get those tickets then.” Jason started off the other way with his huge bag of gear slung over one shoulder and his skates draped over the other.

After getting after getting 5 tickets to Jason’s game (one for Alfred of course) Dick and Bruce got back in the car, Dick sitting shotgun now.

“Don’t tell me you have something on Saturday as well.”

“Well sort of… how would you feel about going to the circus on Saturday night? I mean I’d understand if you didn’t want to since we’re already doing so much, but Haly’s is back in town and Jack asked if I would do an act in the show for just one night.”

“Of course we’d go to see you. Are you sure you’re ready to do that? It’s going to be tough.”

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted too at first…there were to many bad things I had tied up with the circus, things I didn’t want to think about, it reminded me about my parents and I initially said no when he asked.”

“No one would blame you for that, it was an incredibly traumatic experience Dick, it’s amazing you still do gymnastics and circus arts after all you’ve been through. What changed your mind?”

“I remembered all the good things. You’re my family now Bruce, but I remembered my family at the circus, how much I loved that place as a kid. I want to do it to honor that memory, all the good things I remember from being at the circus. And anyways you know I can’t resist putting on a show.”

“Yes always the showman, but Dick, that’s incredibly brave of you.” Dick smiled and shrugged.

“Not brave, I kinda feel like I need to do it, sort of like closure I guess.”

“Whatever you need to do, the boys and I’ll be happy to go to the show. Now don’t you have a class to teach?”

“Oh right!” Dick realized they’d been sitting in the car outside the gym for the whole conversation. “Thanks Bruce, see ya later.” Dick grabbed his stuff from the trunk and waved at the kids waiting for him at the entrance to the gym for their lesson.

Bruce smiled and pulled out of the parking lot to drive back across town to watch a bit of Damian’s practice before it was over and then go pick up all the boys. He couldn’t be more proud of his boys, being a dad had its ups and downs but all the same he loved it. He was also seriously considering buying a minivan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ......I like comments and constructive criticism :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't leave this little AU alone and now it'll be a series of ficlets in non-chronological order. I should add that I've messed with the cannon age gaps a bit, Dick is 18, Jason is 16, Tim is 14 and Damian is 10.

“So should we get you a pair of Dad jeans to go with the Minivan?” Jason mocked. Tim snorted and hit Jason affectionately in the arm.

“C’mon that was mean, you’d have to find the right pair to match his fanny pack let alone coordinate with socks and sandals. Style that great is hard to come by!” Dick chimed in from his spot half-on half-off the couch arm. That even got a smile out of Damian who had one headphone in and was meticulously going over his math homework.

            Bruce snorted, “I can see the headlines now, _Socialite Bruce Wayne Dad of the Year_ , you think I should take up golf or something too?

            “Tt- No father, there is already enough sporting equipment around the house already.” Damian informed him.

“Ha, remember the time you took us all golfing for that charity tournament like two years ago and we all sucked at it, like really bad. Damian threw a golf ball at me and I got a black eye because I told him he needed a smaller set of golf clubs because he was too short to share with me. Oh ya, and Dick and Jason had way too many complimentary drinks at the bar in the clubhouse and then drove that golf cart into the water feature on the 18th hole… Oh shit, forget about that last bit, you aren’t supposed to know about that!” Tim cringed as Dick and Jason both glared daggers at him.

“You both told me that you were trying to avoid running over a duck and that’s why you ended up in the water. Two months. You are both grounded for two months, no nothing except for school, practices and games.” Bruce was dead serious, “I thought the two of you were more responsible than that. I’m disappointed you would lie to me. I get it you’re young, you are going to do stupid stuff every once in a while but I don’t want the media getting wind of it. You are my sons and I wish this wasn’t the case but you are under a microscope all of the time, I don’t want any of you to be dragged in the press it’s not fair to you. So let’s keep the irresponsible decisions to a minimum especially at one of Wayne Enterprises charity events understood? When you both are 21 the three of us will go do something stupid alright. Maybe I should just ground you both until your 21st birthdays?”

Jason and Dick both looked at each other definitely ashamed, Bruce rarely ever grounded any of them. “Bruce, _Dad_ , we’re sorry. Didn’t really think about it like that at the time. We’re both better than that, I’m…I’m glad you see that.” Jason mumbled. Dick frowned a little and wrapped an arm around Jason’s shoulders pulling him against his side even though Jason was bigger than him. Bruce knew Dick and Jason were close and that Dick had always taken it on himself to make sure Jason was okay and that Jason knew he was cared about.

Dick laughed, “Sorry Dad, really. But you know there really was a duck or at least I thought there was one, though I might have turned a bit much to avoid it, well a lot much. Anyways, you can’t ground us both until we’re 21. I’m two years older so that means Jason would be grounded for 5 years. I think we’ll take the two months without complaint. Right Jay?”

Bruce watched Jason as his face went from upset and withdrawn to a grin in an instant. Jason pushed Dick off of him laughing, “No way do I want Dick pleading our case! Dude you’re gonna get us grounded for eternity!”

“Alright I’ll settle. How about a bet, Jason gets a goal in the next game against Central City and you both get off with just a week and a promise not to drink at charity events until your 21.” Bruce watched as Jason’s eyes lit up.

“We’ll take it.” Jason exclaimed confidently.

“Dick, I hope you’re prepared for two months of being grounded.” Damian quipped.

“Shut up brat. I’ve got this.” Jason shot back.

“You’d better Jason. I have plans for next week I don’t want to cancel.”

 

Jason scored three goals in the game against Central City. Bruce wouldn’t have grounded them for two months anyways but Jason and Dick didn’t need to know that.


	3. Chapter 3

Damian was sitting in an armchair looking as small as possible, feet on the chair and knees brought up to his chest. His eyebrows were knitted together and he looked about ready to burst into tears, which was saying something considering Damian rarely acted like the average ten-year-old let alone cried over anything. Bruce had two options. One, just leave Damian alone. Damian didn’t like when people saw that something bothered him or made him upset. More often than not it made whatever it was worse. Or option two, go figure out what was wrong, and being his father option two was pretty much the only answer.

He crouched down in front of the chair and noticed Damian had something clutched in his hand. He reached out and coaxed Damian’s hand open to see what it was. It was the medal Damian had won last weekend at the fencing national youth qualifiers. The medal was bigger than Damian’s hand with a red white and blue ribbon and was reflecting bronze from the light of the lamp on the end table. Damian let it slip from his hand and Bruce caught it just before it hit the hardwood floor. “Careful, wouldn’t want to dent it or anything Damian.” Damian just shrugged and turned his head away from Bruce.

“I don’t care,” Damian mumbled, “I wanted to win. Third place is just a consolation prize they give to people who were okay but not good enough. It’s for losers.” Bruce sighed, so this was why he is upset. Honestly it wasn’t much of a surprise, Damian had always been like this, probably a product of being raised with his mother and grandfather for so many years before coming to live with Bruce.   

“You know Damian, the only losers are the people who don’t get out there and play.” Damian immediately turned his head back to Bruce and if anything looked angrier now than upset.

“That ridiculous line might work on Todd and Drake but you will not placate me with such nonsense. I told you, if you don’t win you lose.” Damian nearly growled at him, still fighting back tears.

“Well,” Bruce hedged, “you did receive a medal. Out of the 86 competitors they only give out three medals. I’d say the 83 people who didn’t receive one would have been very happy with third place.”

“But they’re not me, and I’m not content with third place!” Damian exclaimed.

This would either go over well or it wouldn’t and there was only one way to find out. “So win next time.” Bruce watched the look of incredulity spread over Damian’s face.

“It’s not as simple as that, if it was I would always win!” He had played this one right, it’s what he expected Damian to say.

“Well you’re making it out to be that simple, aren’t you? I know winnings not easy and I also know how much hard work you’ve put in. Understand that it does pay off but respect that other people also put in the same commitment. When you fence her again at nationals you know what to expect now and can tailor how you practice to prepare for that.” He paused. Damian was still frowning though it turned more into a pout than a full on face scrunching glower. “I know you didn’t see everyone in the stands, but people were pretty impressed with how you did.”

“Really?” Damian looked hopeful.

“Yes, really. What was it you did in that last bout to win overtime with the parry and repost?” He’d said the magic words, Damian loved telling people about fencing, you just had to ask the right way.

“Oh that! I’ve been working on that for a month now. It wasn’t a repost it was a displacement. You see, there is no parry in a displacement and that’s why it’s risky as a counter-attack and-”

“Hold on you’re going to have to explain this in layman’s terms, I have no idea what any of that means. Also I think Alfred make some cookies earlier, why don’t we go sneak a few before dinner?”

He pulled Damian off the chair and set him down on his feet. They made their way towards the kitchen as Damian continued to animatedly tell him about the different types of displacements and which one he had executed. It was good to get these moments where Damian acted without his usual reserve, sometimes he acted too grown up.


	4. Chapter 4

I got a prompt for this one! “Aww, can we have some, Bat family forgets about Tim's competition and that makes Tim upset which makes him loose in his Swimming Tryouts for Nationals...”  This mostly fits that I hope!

 

Tim is 16 here and Jason is 18

 

Tim frowned looking up into the stands. Bruce always sat in the bleachers on the left side of the center aisle just a few rows up in the second section. Bruce wasn’t there yet and he was swimming next. Bruce promised he’d be there, it was the state qualifying meet and he’d marked it on every calendar in the manor and reminded Bruce just this morning (actually every morning this week). Tim figured that Bruce was running late and would show just before it started, he had to drive cross town from the ice rink so there was probably traffic. But traffic couldn’t be this bad, not on a Sunday morning right? Maybe something happened?

Worse. Maybe Bruce forgot. And once that thought had entered his head, he couldn’t get rid of it. Did Bruce not care? Was he not a priority? Sure he did well, he’d made high school state last year, but Jason was already being scouted by colleges and Damian was going to the junior nationals and then worlds. Compared to them he really hadn’t accomplished much; it wasn’t like he could be a professional swimmer or that he even wanted to. He just wasn’t worth Bruce’s time. At that moment he wanted to walk away and quit, he didn’t need to swim this stupid race it’s not like it would mean anything in a few years anyways. Too late, the call to the starting blocks was announced over the PA system and he couldn’t walk away now.

He sighed climbing up onto the start block, and then caught himself. He didn’t need Bruce to be here, that had no impact on if he was good or not, Bruce wasn’t the one who put in hours swimming laps or time in the gym. He could do this for himself. No, he _would_ do this for himself. He looked out across the pool, just there and back only 100 meters freestyle his favorite race to swim. He heard the long whistle from the referee to grab the gutter and assume the starting position followed by the starter giving the signal to begin.

Diving into the water was always such a rush and no different this time. He surfaced focusing on each individual stroke and kick. Going across the pool this direction, the side he took breaths on was the opposite side of where the crowd was sitting and he could also see all the other swimmers since he was in the far left lane. He focused on keeping ahead of the other swimmers and was pulling just ahead as he approached the turn. If he got managed a good turn he could pull even farther ahead. He kicked off the wall strong and put all he had into the final stretch. This time on the way back he could see the crowd every time he took a breath.

 He was only about 25 meters away when he came up for a breath and found himself looking directly at where Bruce would usually be sitting. The spot was wide open, empty still. He took a sharp intake of breath but unexpectedly swallowed a mouthful of water as well. He coughed and gasped taking in even more water and slipped under the surface struggling to get back up for air, watching as all the other swimmers passed him. Or he thought they all had passed him. A pair of arms wrapped around his torso and dragged him to the surface. It was the guy in the lane next to him from Smallville High, Kent, Tim thought his name was. He coughed and spluttered trying to catch his breath, while the guy helped him to the side of the pool and his coach offered a hand to pull him out and then guided him to a bench.

“Tim are you alright? What happened? Let me go find your Dad.” His coach leaned over where Tim was sitting on the bench closer to the stands than the pool with a medic checking him over.

“He’s not here, really I’m fine though you don’t need to call him or anything. My arm just cramped up and I swallowed a bit of water. I think I’m just gonna go home.” He looked back out at the pool, they were going to redo the race but he didn’t have it in him to get back out there. He’d nearly drowned letting his emotions get the better of him he couldn’t get into the pool right now. His coach looked at the medic next to him and the medic assured him that Tim was okay.

“If you’re sure that’s what you want Tim. You know this is the last chance to make state for the 100 freestyle until next year.”

“I know, I’m sorry I just can’t.” He saw how disappointed coach looked. Tim got up and made his way to the locker rooms, if he was quick he wouldn’t have to see or talk to anyone and could leave. He made his way to his car before the redo race even finished throwing his bag unceremoniously into the back seat and jamming his keys into the ignition. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, upset, angry still a bit panicky since almost drowning. He paused and collected himself for a minute, enough so that he could at least drive home.

At the manor he pulled his car into the garage next to Bruce’s silver Mercedes, which meant that Bruce was home. In fact, all the cars were in their spots meaning everyone was home. He knew what he wanted to do then, he wanted to go yell at Bruce to vent off all the emotions ricocheting around his head, it was Bruce’s fault he felt like this.  He marched into the manor and through the kitchen to find Alfred. “Alfred where’s Bruce?”

“Master Timothy you’re back sooner than expected. Master Bruce is in the drawing room but-” Tim stormed past Alfred not letting him finish, nearly jogging to the drawing room. He spotted the back of Bruce’s head, he was sitting on the couch, and felt every emotion bubble up.

“You promised you’d be there! You said you would and you weren’t! What the hell was more important!” Tim yelled at the back of Bruce’s head. Bruce turned his head.

“Tim not now, you have to be quiet, I-”

“What do you mean ‘not now’?! I nearly drowned today and you weren’t there! Don’t tell me not now!”

“Whaddaya mean nearly drowned?” A groggy sounding voice inquired. It sounded like Jason but the words were a bit slurred and he didn’t quite sound right. Tim frowned and stepped around the couch.

Jason was sprawled out over half the couch leaning against Bruce who was holding a huge ice pack to Jason’s side. Jason wasn’t wearing a shirt so Tim could see that his whole right side was wrapped in white bandages with splotches of purple bruising peeking out where the bandages didn’t cover. Jason’s left arm was in a sling with a pillow between it and his chest and an ice pack wrapped around that as well. Tim forgot about how angry and upset he was for a minute.

“Bruce what happened to Jason? Is he okay?”

“Tim I am fantastic, I’m on sooooo may drugs I’ll be numb for a week I hope.” Jason grinned up at him. Bruce sighed.

“Ignore him, he has four cracked ribs and his arm is broken in two places. He took an illegal blindside hit into the boards and his arm got stuck between the wall and his body. The doctors gave him a high dose of painkillers so they could realign his arm.”

“Oh,” Tim murmured, “So that’s why you weren’t at the race.” Bruce looked at him apologetically.

“Yes that’s why. Why would you think I’d forget?”

Tim couldn’t hold it back anymore and he felt a tear slip out.

“Tim?”

“I just, this is so dumb but I thought you didn’t care. It’s not like I’m that great or anything I thought you’d rather be doing something else and I let that get to me and I lost focus and then I swallowed a ton of water and I lost the race and they were gonna redo it but I just couldn’t cause I was upset and then I came back here and yelled at you and now this is all so stupid cause Jason is hurt and I’m being selfish and you don’t deserve me yelling at you and I’ll just go.” The waterworks were full force now he couldn’t stop it.

“Tim that’s not selfish. I’m so sorry I didn’t find a way to tell you we wouldn’t be there I was so caught up in getting everything at the hospital sorted out. This one’s totally on me. Are you alright though? You said you almost drowned, why didn’t anyone call me?” Bruce reached forwarded and handed Tim the box of tissues.

“I might have been exaggerating a little.” Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay, I panicked a bit and one of the other swimmers had to pull me out of the water, but the medic said I’m fine, really I feel fine. More than anything I was just upset and angry I think.”

“I’m glad you’re alright, I’ll be speaking your coach though, he should have called.” Tim just shrugged, and Bruce gave him the dad look.

“I think I’ll go take a shower, do you need anything before I go?”

“I need you to get over here and commiserate with me,” Jason grumbled, “There’s a ton of room on this couch - ow fuck that hurts!” He yelled as he tried to move and make room for Tim next to him.

“Jason if you try to move one more time I swear I will have Dick come sit with you and it will not be pleasant,” Jason groaned and settled back into the couch rethinking his options, “Tim there’s room next to me.” Tim squeezed himself in between Bruce and the armrest and Bruce put his free arm around Tim’s shoulders pulling him close. “Tim, I promise I would never forget about you.”


	5. Chapter 5

Jason is 11

Dick is 13

 

Bruce sighed as he felt another bump at the back of his seat. Jason was furiously kicking his tiny feet against it screaming about how he didn’t want to go. He’d tried to reason and then argue with Jason but had given up and told Jason straight out that there was no other option.

Bruce was driving Jason to his first hockey practice at the Gotham Ice Arena where Jason would be joining the youth team for kids under 12. Dick was sitting in the front seat next to Bruce sporting not only a split lip but a bruised check. Dick had taken one of the marshmallows from Jason’s cereal that morning and Jason had punched him in the face for it. Oddly enough, Dick hadn’t even been upset that half his face was black and blue but was upset with himself because he thought he had “made Jason do it”. When Bruce had asked him what he meant by “made Jason do it” and Dick had replied that of course Jason would hit him, that’s what he had had to do to make it on the streets. Jason had felt bad about it, seeing that he’d hurt Dick, but he hadn’t apologized. It happened much more than Bruce would care to admit, little things that would set Jason off, make him angry or scare him and leave him on edge for a few days. Bruce wasn’t sure how to deal with it, sure he’d lost his parents too but he hadn’t been left on the streets to fend for himself, he had Alfred. He thought maybe he could give Jason an outlet, somewhere to get that aggression out so at least he wouldn’t take it out on Dick over cereal. As for the rest, if it didn’t get better Bruce was considering finding a therapist.

Pulling up at the ice arena Bruce was fully prepared to drag Jason kicking and screaming into the building, but surprisingly Jason went quietly. Bruce carried the heavy bag of gear over his shoulder figuring being on time was more important than letting Jason carry it. Dick trailed behind them curiously looking around at all the flyers on the walls and peering through glass at the bigger ice rink where people were practicing figure skating. “Dick, why don’t you just wait here and watch the figure skaters? I should only be a few minutes.” Dick shrugged in agreement and took a seat on one of the bleacher seats by the glass.

Bruce found the smaller ice rink and ushered Jason towards it, there was a group of about ten kids already there in various states of having all their gear on. Bruce reached out for Jason’s shoulder to stop him and knelt down in front of him. “Here’s the deal Jason. I know you don’t want to be here but I need you to try just for just this week. If you hate it that’s fine you can stop but I’m asking for one week, sitting on the bench the whole time sulking doesn’t count and you won’t give the coach a hard time.” Jason looked away frowning. “Jason.”

“Okay Bruce, but you’re right I’m going to hate it.” Well whatever happened would happen he couldn’t make Jason have fun he couldn’t really make Jason play either.

“Well let’s go then.” They walked over to where all the other kids were gathered, Bruce depositing Jason’s bag next to all the others in front of a row of bleachers. Some of the kids were talking in small groups while the coach was helping a few with relacing their skates. Bruce walked over to introduce himself to the coach. Jason stood there awkwardly not sure what to do with himself. He was unsure of how to put any of the gear on and didn’t know any of the kids and wasn’t very keen on starting a conversation with any of them. He watched as Bruce shook hands with the coach gave a little wave to Jason and left. He looked up at the clock, 7:30 p.m. he had two more hours of this. He sat down on the bleacher next to his bag thinking of nothing better to do and was surprised when someone sat down right next to him.

“Hey, your name’s Jason right? Roy Harper, nice to meet you? You gonna stare at the bag all night or what?” Jason looked at the kid sitting next to him, freckles and bright red hair paired with blue eyes and a smile.

“Honestly I’m pretty sure I’m here as some sort of punishment in lieu of grounding so ya I was going to stare at it all night.” Roy raised an eyebrow at that and smirked.

“No way, we are in desperate need of a new forward and you are definitely the guy for the job!”

“How would you know? I barely know how to ice skate.”

 

Bruce was running late. He’d decided to take Dick to the bookstore and had underestimated how bad traffic would be on a Saturday night. If Jason didn’t hate him enough already this would surely do it, being late and making him stay longer than necessary. He dashed into the ice arena hoping Jason wasn’t the last one there still. He caught site of Jason sitting on the bleachers and was shocked, Jason was sitting and laughing with another boy, the coach cleaning up some of the gear left out from practice.

“Sorry I’m late.” Bruce called making his way over. “Jason are you ready to go?” Jason looked up just now noticing that he was here.

“Ya all my stuff is packed up but can we wait with Roy? His dad isn’t here yet.” Bruce knew he recognized the kid, Oliver Queen’s son. “And Bruce, I think I wanna come back to the next practice. I had a good time.”


	6. Chapter 6

Dick is 16, Jason is 14 and Tim is 12

 

“Ow! That’s my face you’re standing on you ass.” Jason yelped.

            “ _Well sorry_ ,” Tim drawled sarcastically, “You’re the one who said we didn’t need a ladder to get up here and anyways your face is just so standable on.” He hooked his arms over the ledge and pulled, trying to haul himself up. “Jason, I need a boost still. You can let go of my legs and actually help.” He reached for something else to grab onto s Jason helped lift him up into the attic.

            “Find anything Timmy?” Jason called looking up into the dark attic. Why there wasn’t a ladder or stairs was a mystery and where there was a mystery there was Tim trying to solve it.

            “No, it’s too dark, will you throw my phone up so I can try and find a light switch?”

            “Sure, ready?” Jason gave Tim’s phone a light toss, making sure he’d be able to catch and watching it all the ways up so if Tim missed he could get it on the way down.

            “Alright I got it, I’m gonna turn on the flashlight app and find a light.” Jason heard some fumbling and a few curses as Tim managed to trip over something before getting his phone on. “Uh Jason, there aren’t any lights up here. Can you go grab a few flashlights and I think I’ll be able to pull you up as well.” Jason dashed back down the stairs to find the flashlight, he knew Alfred always kept one in the kitchen so that was a sure bet.

            When Jason returned, flashlight in hand, Tim was sitting on the ledge feet dangling in the air on his phone. “Throw me the flashlight, I’m texting Dick, he’d be a pain in the ass if he found out he missed out on an adventure.” Jason shrugged and tossed the flashlight underhand up to Tim who was a good 4 feet above his head (Wayne Manor had incredibly high ceilings). Tim snagged it out of the air and set it down next to him on the ledge.

            “You found anything up there yet? Skeletons in the closet, mummies, aliens weird shit like that? Cause honestly I wouldn’t be surprised.”

            “Nah, all I could see was a ton of boxes and furniture. I have a feeling we might be a bit disappointed by what’s up here. Are you gonna wait til Dick gets here to climb up?”

            “I figure, there’s no way you are getting me up there.”

            “Oh come on, just because not all of us can bench press an elephant doesn’t mean I can’t lift up here!”

            “Did someone say elephants? I love elephants,” Tim and Jason both looked around to see Dick nearly skipping down the hallway. “I can’t believe you guys would go on an adventure without me. So what are we looking for anyways, treasure or something?”

            “I’m hoping for Bruce’s dirty secrets.” Dick rolled his eyes at Jason, “What! One can only hope there’s something interesting up there, I mean how boring would it be if we just find tax returns or some shit like that.”

“Whatever. Are we going to let Tim have all the fun or what? You could give me a boost up there.” Jason knelt a little and cupped his hands for Dick to put a foot in them. Dick easily pulled himself up into the attic, Jason making a snide comment about how it was much more graceful than Tim. Dick leaned over the edge reaching a hand just far enough down so that Jason could grab hold and hauled him up grumbling that Jason should lay off all the pizza. After joining them in the attic Jason broke into a fit of sneezing, Tim and Dick both laughing at him.

“This must be where Alfred puts all the dirt.” Dick mused. “You guys did remember to bring a flashlight right? It’s a bit creepy up here.” He added with a shudder.

Tim picked up the flashlight from the floor and turned it on blinding Jason on accident for a minute, “Christ, point that somewhere else you idiot!” Jason exclaimed loudly. Again Dick rolled his eyes and Tim huffed pointing the flashlight towards the back of the attic.

“I’ll put the flashlight on this table so we can all see. Divide and conquer seem like the best approach, find anything interesting just yell.” Jason and Dick both shrugged in confirmation. Tim headed for the back of the attic intending to work his way forward while Dick went left and Jason went right.

Two hours later and the most interesting thing that had turned up was an ancient suit of armor which Tim had pointed out wasn’t historically accurate at all. Tim was about to call it a day when Jason called from across the room “Guys come check this out.”

Dick whistled under his breath, “And I was starting to think there wasn’t anything interesting up here at all.”

It was a display cabinet full of trophies, medals and also some pictures. All the awards belonged to Bruce. Dick frowned, “I had no idea he played polo, did you guys?”

“Nope. I always thought we all played sports so he could do the live vicariously through your kids thing. Can’t imagine him playing on a team let alone being good at it.” Jason was still pondering the various awards. “I wonder why he quit?” They didn’t get a chance to guess right then interrupted by Bruce yelling irritably.

“Boys! You know very well we have somewhere to be if you are not down here in the next five minutes ready to go we will not be going to the baseball game tomorrow night!” The three of them glanced at each other and then scrambled to get out of the attic first resulting in Tim having his fingers stepped on and landing on top of Dick with a huge crash. They all dashed to the front door, going to baseball games was an agreed upon favorite and could not be jeopardized.

They all packed into the car as quick as possible. Every Thursday night, the one night no one had practices, Bruce dragged them all to a self-defense class insisting that it would ‘be useful at some point’. They came to a mutual understanding that they would indulge Bruce on this one and play along. They could ask about polo later.


	7. Chapter 7

Jason is 17, Dick is 19, Tim is 15, Damian is 9

 

            The crowd cheered when they went up a goal, Jason was credited with the assist and Roy scored the goal. Bruce, Tim, Dick, Damian and Alfred sat in a box watching the game with Oliver Queen. Playoffs were coming up soon and there were scouts at the game, in fact, both Jason and Roy would most likely be getting scholarships to play college hockey (not that Bruce and Oliver couldn’t afford any college).

Damian sat on Bruce’s left having been separated form Tim earlier when he’d tried to trip Tim on the stairs. Damian had claimed it was payback for Tim calling him cute, Bruce had to admit he was pretty adorable bundled up in a winter coat, hat and mittens with a scarf to top it all off. Damian was not a fan of how cold the ice rink was to which Jason had replied “Well no shit. It’s ice what did you expect?”. Getting Damian to go to a game was a hassle but he seemed to enjoy it well enough once they were there, watching intently with a box of candy in his mitten clad hands.

Tim sat on Bruce’s right with Dick next to him. Both of them were fairly enthusiastic fans and cheered as loudly and obnoxiously as possible when Jason had the puck in hopes he would hear them. Dick was wearing a jersey with Jason’s number on the back, number 12, and Tim had a one and a two one each cheek. They were sharing a bag of popcorn though a large amount of it had ended up on the floor (and on Oliver who was sitting in the seat in front of them) when they jumped up cheering each time a goal was scored.

The game was tied now 2-2 with the whole third period remaining. They were all gripping the arms of their seats as Roy was defending behind their team’s goal going to clear the puck back the forwards. Just as Roy cleared the puck a guy from the other team slammed him into the boards, Roy falling down hard the other guy standing over him. The same player had been after Roy all game actually, hitting way to hard and much more often than was necessary. Sure, hockey was a rough sport but this guy had Roy’s number, tailing him the whole game.

Bruce saw Oliver wince and grip the arm of his seat a bit tighter murmuring under his breath “C’mon Roy get up, you’re okay.” A referee quickly skated over blowing his whistle for unsportsmanlike like play ready to send the other player to the penalty box. Jason beat the referee there.

“This I not going to be good.” Bruce groaned. The whole game he could tell Jason was just itching for fight and he’d finally snapped. Jason shoved the guy away from Roy.

“Kick his ass Jay!” yelled Dick and Tim, both out of their seats.

Damian tapped Oliver on the shoulder, “Roy’s okay, Jason would’ve made sure of that first.”

“Thanks kid.” Oliver smiled back at Damian, the first words he’d heard out of him all night. The kid really knew how to read people, it was a bit scary sometimes, no wonder he was such a talented fencer.

He turned back to the ice to see Jason tearing his gloves off, him and the other player now nearly in the center of the rink. The crowd was into it ready to see a fight and Jason delivered, throwing a solid right hook knocking the other guys helmet off. One of Jason and Roy’s teammates had helped Roy over to the bench where the trainer was checking him over, it seemed like Roy was virtually ignoring him watching Jason fight. The other player had taken off his gloves too and Jason’s helmet had also been knocked off, they were both getting punches in on the other. Oliver noticed something a bit odd, the other player was goading Jason on, he couldn’t tell what he was saying but it clearly struck a nerve with Jason. By the time the referees managed to separate the two Jason’s nose was bleeding and he had a nasty split lip, his face would probably be black and blue tomorrow. Tim and Dick had stopped cheering him on and Bruce was also standing looking very concerned, whether it was for Jason’s safety or the other player since Jason had done a number on him as well.

The referees met at center ice to talk and decided to eject both Jason and the other player from the game. Jason stormed off to the locker room the trainer following him to patch him up in the locker room. Play started back up and Roy took his position back on the ice, only shaken up from the hit, not actually hurt. They ended up winning with a comfortable margin of four goals to two also securing a spot in the playoffs. That was good and all but Bruce noticed the scouts taking a lot more notes than they usually would, probably about Jason. Also probably not good. After the game they all went to get dinner, they usually gave about an hour for Jason and Roy to change, pack up their stuff and do whatever it was they did post-game. Damian insisted that they find somewhere with hot chocolate so they wound up at a diner of all places. Dick was delighted that he could have breakfast for dinner, he and Tim were inhaling a huge plate of pancakes.

“That was some game huh Bruce.” Oliver said, “I hope Jason’s alright.” He added.

“He’ll be fine. I don’t think I’ve seen him go off like that in a long time. A fight here or there in hockey is normal but that wasn’t.”

“That kid was spurring him on, no idea what he was saying but Jason looked ready to commit murder.”

“Wonder what it was.” Bruce pondered out loud.

            They pulled back up to the ice rink, Damian, Tim and Dick electing to stay in the car and wait while Bruce and Oliver went in to get Jason and Roy. Jason and Roy always waited for them on the bleachers, the same bleachers they had waited on since Jason’s first practice. Today was no different. They were both sitting there, at the top where there was a fence to lean against, Jason was leaning against Roy and Roy had an arm wrapped around Jason. Their heads were close together and they were talking to each other obviously unaware anyone else was around.

            “Seriously Jay, you don’t have to be my knight in shining armor or anything. I can take care of myself.” Roy was grumbling.

            “Right, and you’re just going to let people talk shit about you and push you around, that’s taking care of yourself.”

“And what, you just get to decide when you want to be my boyfriend?! When it’s convenient for you, you get to ‘defend my honor’ or some dumb shit like that. No Jason, that’s not going to work for me.”

“I was not ‘defending your honor’ that’s fucking ridiculous and you know it! I just… I don’t want to see you get hurt. It seems like being with me gets you into a lot of crap and that’s not fair to you.” Jason pulled his head away and ducked out from under Roy’s arm.

“Not fair to me, babe it’s not like you don’t deal with that bullshit either. Jason I don’t care what other people say, that’s why I didn’t ‘put up a fight’. Really, it doesn’t matter. I’ve got you that’s enough, I don’t need you beating people up for me I’m pretty capable of doing it myself, that guy just wasn’t worth the time or effort.”

“Whatever you say Roy,” Jason grinned and leaned over to kiss Roy’s cheek. “You know Bruce and your Dad should be here any minute.”

Oliver stepped forward, “Actually we’ve been here for a few minutes.” Roy and Jason both turned towards Bruce and Oliver horrified expressions on their faces.

“Umm I can explain.” Jason backtracked.

“Explain what? Seriously I’m pretty sure everyone knew you two liked each other since you were like 13, took you both long enough.” Oliver laughed.

Jason groaned, “Cat’s out of the bag I guess. C’mon Roy.” He grabbed Roy’s hand and they climbed down from the bleachers coming to a stop in front of Bruce and Oliver.

“How’s your face Jason?” Bruce queried.

Jason shrugged, “Could be worse, just a split lip and bruises. Bruce I had to do it that guy was saying some stuff, well stuff I don’t really want to repeat, and I kinda lost it but…” Jason didn’t get to finish his sentence, Bruce reached out and pulled him into a hug.

“Jason it’s fine, really.”

“You really mean that? Even the part where Roy’s my boyfriend?”

“Jason I think Roy is one of the best things that’s ever happened to you, of course I’m fine with it. Anyways I couldn’t stop you even if I wanted to.” Oliver and Roy both laughed at that. “We’d better get going, the boys are waiting in the car.” They all nodded in agreement.

Before Jason and Bruce could walk away, Roy grabbed Jason’s arm and pulled him into a hug, murmuring in his ear, “Love you.” then letting go and dashing off after Oliver who had parked in the other parking lot. Jason was left grinning like an idiot Bruce smiling fondly at him.


	8. Chapter 8

Tim is 16

            After the debacle of state qualifiers, he hadn’t really wanted to get in a pool at all or near on for that matter. But here he was sprawled across a lawn chair on the pool deck in the backyard. Dick had declared it impromptu pool day, never mind that it was March and subsequently still freezing out. They’d had to drag the cover off the pool and clean it out, it was full of gunk after sitting all winter and the heater had taken hours to get it above freezing. Really more trouble than it was worth in his opinion but Dick had gotten everyone else in on it and he just kinda went along with it since there was no stopping Dick when he really wanted to do something.

He’d carefully crafted a nest around his lawn chair, mug and carafe of coffee, textbooks, notebooks, calculator, phone and a pile of beach towels determined not to get in the pool (although he had put on a pair of swim trunks just to get Dick off his back). Crafted a few excuses about a hugely important math test on Tuesday he had to study for and he was off the hook for actually swimming. Never mind that he was at least five chapters ahead of the class in math, and well every other subject.

He heard a shout and a slash looking up from his calculus homework just in time to see Jason push Roy into the deep end of the pool. Roy came up spluttering, Jason feigned innocence “Well someone had to check if the water was warm enough.” he quipped at Roy shrugging a shoulder.

“I swear I’m going to actually dump you this time!” Roy shouted back at Jason splashing water at him as Jason jumped into the pool, causing a wave of water to slosh over onto the pool deck. Tim frantically scrambled to grab his phone and books off the ground before they got drenched, dumping them onto the empty lawn chair next to his own. In the process of saving his stuff he tipped his own lawn chair over, ending up flat on his back in the puddle of pool water that was not very warm. Ugh, could this week just end already? Actually could it not, tryouts were on Sunday and he was not very keen on going.

Hands grabbed him under the armpits hauling him up to his feet. “Dude, are you okay? You look like someone kicked your puppy or something.” Conner was here.

“Oh, hey Conner. Did Dick invite you over?”

“Um yeah. He said you could use some cheering up, and well obviously he’s right. Seriously you look miserable and not just cause you’re sitting in a puddle right now. What’s the deal?”

Stress, fear of failure, both over the impending tryouts, and probably a few more things too. Instead he shrugged, “Just nervous I guess. Tryouts always freak me out and I haven’t exactly practiced much since half drowning.”

“No kidding, haven’t seen you at the pool in weeks.”

“Are you stalking me!”

“No, more like worried about you. C’mon why don’t you go jump in the pool and take a few laps, no one’s here or a race or anything and there are way too many people around for you to drown, not that I don’t mind saving you. Felt pretty heroic and all that, I should be a pro lifeguard like Baywatch.” Conner grinned to himself.

Tim snorted, “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Mock offended, “I would never. Here I am just trying to look out for you, last time I’ll be your knight in shining armor!”

Tim rolled his eyes, “I swear I will throw you in this pool. And trust me it is not warm, don’t listen to him,” he pointedly glared at Dick, “he’s full of shit. I’m 99% sure the heater is broken and that pool will never be warm ever again.”

“Now you’re just stalling, get in the pool Tim, you’ll be fine I promise.” Conner dragged him to the stairs in the shallow end of the pool.

Sighing and grabbing the railing he climbed down a few of the stairs, Conner right behind him. It was freezing. He felt goosebumps prickling his arms and he started shivering even more, half because it was so cold and the other half because his last experience with water wasn’t the best memory. “You know maybe we can just go down to the aquatic center tomorrow.” He suggested turning around to get back out of the pool.

He’d underestimated how closely Conner was behind him and ran smack into his chest. Unsteady on his feet he waved his arms for balance but stepped on a stair they hadn’t cleaned well enough it was slippery. His foot slid right off the stair and he felt himself fall backwards. Backwards right into the pool with a splash. The water closed over his head and he went under. He held his breath waiting. And nothing happened. He didn’t panic or splash or swallow a mouthful of water. He was fine. Not drowning, completely fine. Calmly he found his footing in the shallow water and stood back up breaking the surface. Conner was close by looking like he was ready to grab him just in case, but had a smile on his face.

“Like riding a bike right? You never forget how to do it.” Tim nodded at that. “So about those laps, you do have a race on Saturday you know.”

“What about you? You’re not competing?” Conner had swan at the first tryouts, those had all been individual events he must not do the relays or the medleys.

“No, relays aren’t my thing and neither are the medleys. But I’ll be there to watch if you’re okay with that?”

“Really you want to come watch?”

“Of course I do. You’re my friend, isn’t that sorta what friends do?”

 

 

They were all crammed into a booth at the ice cream parlor. Bruce, Damian and Dick on one side and Tim, Jason and Conner on the other side. All of them had huge bowls of ice cream in front them but Tim’s was special with extra whipped cream, sprinkles, caramel plus fudge sauce and two cherries.

Victory ice cream, was what Jason called it ruffling Tim’s hair. Not first place but on the table in between his bowl of ice cream and Conner’s sat three medals. Silver, two second place medals for both relays he swam in, the second his team had lost by only half a second. Bronze, the medal he’d earned for the 400-meter medley race. That one was better than the silver medals, he’d won it by himself and when he’d looked up to take a breath he’d seen his whole family plus Conner cheering him on.


	9. Chapter 9

“Road Trip!!!!” Dick yelled sliding down the bannister duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Alfred looking on in horror from the bottom of the stairs.

“Master Richard, the bannister is not for sliding. I believe this is the fourth time this week you’ve deemed it necessary to slide instead of walk.”

“Sure Alf, but that would take all the fun out of it!” Dick grinned at Alfred picking up his bag since it had fallen off his shoulder when he’d dismounted from the bannister, and it had been a dismount, flip and all. Alfred shook his head in defeat.

Jason and Roy came ambling down the stairs, not sliding down the bannister. “Dick, I’m not even sure why you’re coming with us. You kinda dropped out of college, why exactly do you feel the sudden compulsion to tour one?”

“You mean I can’t care about where my brother is going to spend the next four years of his life?” Dick whined making the puppy dog face. “All I’m trying to do is look out for you Jay. What if it’s awful or something. Anyways if I go with you guys you don’t have to bring Bruce since I’m responsible and stuff.”

Jason raised an eyebrow at that and Roy snickered. Alfred coughed subtly, “Master Bruce will be along shortly, there was business to finish at the office so I am afraid he is running behind schedule.”

Dick’s face fell, “You mean I don’t get to drive?”

“Hell no, I’d like to get there in one piece, and I don’t need you to babysit me all weekend.”

“Dude, that was mean. I’m pretty sure you hurt his feelings, he’s making the face again.” Roy murmured elbowing Jason in the ribs. And Dick was making the face again, except this time he looked like he meant it.

“Jay, if you really don’t want me to go I won’t…. I just thought it would be nice to spend some time together since you’re leaving in a few months and New York is kinda far and I’ll be busy going to the police academy and I don’t know maybe I’m being sentimental or something but it seems so soon. Too soon you know? Like you’re all grown up and leaving and Tim’s gonna be a senior next year, Damian’ll be in high school, you guys aren’t my little brothers anymore, I think I’m having a hard time letting that go.”

“Whoa, hey, it’s not like I’m moving to Australia Dick. I’m not going to forget about you, promise. I didn’t know you felt that way, you should come with us, I’ve sorta been ignoring you the past few weeks haven’t I, I’m sorry.” Jason slung an arm around Dick’s shoulder and picked his duffel bag off the floor tossing it over his shoulder along with his bag. “Maybe you can drive part of the way if you ask Bruce nice.”

“Doubt it, we’re taking the BMW, he’d kill me if anything happened to it.”

“Well in that case you can sit in back with us and tell us all about college.” Roy suggested.

Dick rolled his eyes at Roy, “Like you really want to know. Anyways you guys’ll both be bigshot athletes. I hear the university pretty much caters to your every need or something like that.”

Jason shrugged, “They wouldn’t even have to treat us special for me to want to go there, with that many hockey championships….. we’d be idiots not to go, not to mention getting a pretty damn good education out if it, Cornell is no joke.”

“And lucky you two, getting to go to the same school.”

Roy smirked, “I’m smart enough for the two of us, I’ll make sure he doesn’t flunk out.”

It was Jason’s turn to elbow Roy, “Whatever, I can skate circles around you, better watch you don’t get cut from the team.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been awhile since i wrote anything at all.......

**Author's Note:**

> .....i like comments or constructive criticism or promts :)


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